Cruiser - Pan-Asia Tier VII Lanzhou
Captain & Ship Build and Strategy Guide
- Build focus: Main battery performance, range, survivability and maneuverability
- Playstyle: Long-range damage farming with a strong focus on AP
- Main battery: Nine 180 mm guns with excellent shell velocity and penetration
- AP: Enhanced 50–65° ricochet angles and short fuse make AP especially effective against cruisers
- HE: 30 mm penetration and 11% base fire chance for angled targets
- Torpedoes: 8 km deepwater torpedoes for close-range area denial
- Consumables: Repair Party, Hydroacoustic Search or Defensive AA Fire, and Spotting Aircraft
- Captain build: Can use the same build as Incheon to avoid training a dedicated commander
- Upgrade alternative: If Hydroacoustic Search Modification 1 is unavailable, use Enhanced Repair Party Readiness instead
- Best targets: Broadside cruisers, battleships and exposed targets at long range
- Key strength: Excellent long-range ballistics, powerful AP and high top speed
- Key weakness: Low HP and weak armor make concentrated fire extremely dangerous
- Applies to: Pan-Asia Tier VII Lanzhou
Lanzhou is a Pan-Asian Tier VII premium cruiser with Soviet design origins. Her hull is derived from the Budyonny concept, while the main battery consists of nine 180 mm guns derived from the Soviet Project 26 cruiser family. The result is a fast and relatively fragile cruiser that relies heavily on range, shell performance and positioning rather than armor for survival.
The main attraction of Lanzhou is her 180 mm main battery. The guns combine excellent shell velocity with a 17.56 km base firing range, making the ship unusually comfortable to use at long distances for her tier. You can engage moving targets without having to compensate for extremely slow shell travel, while the long range allows you to remain outside some of the most dangerous engagement zones.
Lanzhou's AP is where the ship becomes particularly interesting. Her shells have improved ricochet angles, with the ricochet check beginning at 50 degrees rather than the conventional 45 degrees and guaranteed ricochet occurring at 65 degrees. Combined with the short 0.022-second fuse, this makes the AP highly effective against broadside and partially angled cruisers.
The short fuse is especially valuable against lightly armored cruisers. A normal heavy-cruiser AP shell can sometimes pass through a thinly armored target before the fuse arms, resulting in an overpenetration. Lanzhou's short fuse reduces this problem and makes well-aimed AP salvos particularly dangerous against broadside light cruisers.
AP should therefore be your first consideration whenever an enemy cruiser gives you a favorable angle. Do not automatically switch to HE simply because the target is moving away from you. Lanzhou's AP is one of the main reasons to play the ship, and a broadside cruiser can lose a large amount of health from a single accurate salvo.
HE remains important when targets are heavily angled or when AP cannot reliably penetrate the available sections. Lanzhou's 180 mm HE has 30 mm of penetration and an 11% base fire chance, giving you a useful alternative against battleships and angled cruisers. The key is to switch ammunition according to the target rather than relying exclusively on one shell type.
Lanzhou's long range encourages a damage-farming playstyle, but range alone does not make the ship durable. She has only 31,500 base hit points and limited protection, so concentrated enemy fire can remove her quickly. The safest Lanzhou captain is constantly evaluating which enemy ships are currently able to shoot back and whether the potential damage is worth remaining exposed.
Open-water kiting is one of the best ways to exploit Lanzhou's speed and firing range. When an enemy flank begins pushing toward you, turn away early and maintain distance while continuing to fire. Your fast shells make this style considerably easier than on many other light cruisers, while your speed gives you additional room to evade incoming fire.
Do not wait until you are already under heavy focus fire before beginning your retreat. Lanzhou does not have the armor or hit points to absorb several battleship salvos while trying to escape. Start creating distance as soon as the tactical situation indicates that the enemy is likely to turn its guns toward you.
The Spotting Aircraft further extends Lanzhou's long-range role. It can temporarily increase the main battery firing range, allowing the cruiser to continue contributing while maintaining a safer distance from the enemy. This is particularly useful when a flank becomes dangerous but you still need to support allies or finish a damaged target.
Lanzhou also carries deepwater torpedoes with an 8 km range. Because these torpedoes cannot hit destroyers, they should not be treated as a destroyer-defense weapon. Their purpose is primarily to threaten larger ships that attempt to close the distance, particularly around islands, chokepoints and other predictable approaches.
Hydroacoustic Search complements this close-range defensive capability. Hydro provides additional warning against incoming torpedoes and makes operating around islands considerably safer. It can also help expose ships hiding in smoke when Lanzhou needs to contest an objective or support an allied destroyer.
If Hydroacoustic Search Modification 1 is not available, Enhanced Repair Party Readiness is a sensible alternative. Lanzhou's Repair Party is one of the few tools she has for recovering from damage, and improving access to that consumable can increase the ship's ability to remain relevant after taking unavoidable hits.
The captain build can also be shared with Incheon if you want to avoid training a dedicated commander. The two ships reward many of the same general cruiser fundamentals: main battery performance, positioning, concealment and survivability. A dedicated Lanzhou captain is therefore optional rather than necessary.
During the opening phase, Lanzhou should usually operate behind the initial spotting line. Look for enemy cruisers first because they provide some of the best AP opportunities. A cruiser showing broadside at medium or long range is often a much more valuable target than a heavily angled battleship, particularly when the enemy cruiser is supporting an opposing destroyer.
When supporting friendly destroyers, use your range to punish the enemy ships that attempt to support their own destroyer. Lanzhou does not need to enter the cap itself to influence the engagement. Removing or heavily damaging an enemy cruiser from a safe distance can give your destroyer a substantial advantage in the objective fight.
Against battleships, use HE when the target is angled and AP when a large vulnerable section becomes available. The excellent AP penetration can make Lanzhou surprisingly dangerous to battleships, but you should still avoid direct trades. The ship wins battleship engagements through distance and sustained positioning rather than by absorbing return fire.
Against cruisers, AP should be the weapon of choice whenever the angle allows it. Aim for the central hull and waterline when possible, particularly against broadside targets. The short fuse and improved ricochet angles give Lanzhou a strong ability to punish cruisers that assume they are safe simply because they are not perfectly broadside.
Destroyers should be treated as targets of opportunity rather than the primary role of the ship. Lanzhou can deliver significant damage to a spotted destroyer, but the relatively low rate of fire means missing a salvo is costly. Use allied spotting whenever possible and avoid chasing destroyers into positions where their support ships can punish Lanzhou.
Mid-game is where Lanzhou can begin exploiting the holes created in the enemy formation. Once several ships have been destroyed, use your speed and range to relocate to a better firing angle. A cruiser that remains on the same flank for the entire battle wastes one of Lanzhou's biggest advantages: the ability to quickly move and establish a new long-range firing position.
When an enemy push becomes unavoidable, use the combination of speed, kiting and deepwater torpedoes to make the approach as expensive as possible. Begin retreating early, continue firing while creating distance and launch torpedoes toward predictable routes. The goal is not necessarily to score a torpedo hit; forcing an enemy ship to maneuver can buy valuable time for your guns and allied ships to punish it.
In the late game, Lanzhou becomes increasingly dangerous as the number of enemy guns decreases. The ship's fragile armor is less of a problem when fewer opponents can punish mistakes, while the long-range guns and strong AP become easier to exploit against isolated cruisers and battleships.
The biggest mistake with Lanzhou is assuming that her excellent guns compensate for her weak survivability. They do not. The ship can deliver impressive damage from long range, but only if the captain remains alive long enough to keep firing. Avoid unnecessary exposure, use your speed to control engagement distance and disengage before concentrated fire becomes overwhelming.
Overall, Lanzhou is a fast, long-range Pan-Asian cruiser built around exceptional 180 mm AP performance and comfortable shell ballistics. She is at her best when operating from range, hunting enemy cruisers and constantly changing position. Use AP aggressively against favorable cruiser angles, HE when targets are heavily angled, and the deepwater torpedoes as a deterrent against ships that attempt to close the distance.